"Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune". Adam Smith - Book V, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Max Stirner was the first philosopher to call himself an egoist, it is questionable if he wanted to install a new idea of morality (ethical egoism) or argue against morality (
amoralism). Others, such as
Thomas Hobbes and
David Gauthier, have argued that the conflicts which arise when people each pursue their own ends can be resolved for the best of each individual only if they all voluntarily forgo some of their aims — that is, one's self-interest is often best pursued by allowing others to pursue their self-interest as well so that liberty is equal among individuals. Sacrificing one's short-term self-interest to maximize one's long-term self-interest is one form of "
rational self-interest" which is the idea behind most philosophers' advocacy of ethical egoism. Egoists have also argued that one's actual interests are not immediately obvious, and that the pursuit of self-interest involves more than merely the acquisition of some good, but the
maximizing of one's chances of survival and/or happiness.
Noted egoist Ayn Rand argued that there is a positive harmony of interests among free, rational humans, such that no moral agent can rationally coerce another person consistently with his own actual, long-term self-interest. Rand argued that other people are an enormous value to an individual's well-being (through education, trade and affection), but also that this value could be fully realized only under conditions of political and economic freedom. According to Rand, voluntary trade alone can assure that human interaction is mutually beneficial (sau cum spunea Adam Smith, "Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog"). Rand's student, Leonard Peikoff has argued that the identification of one's interests itself is impossible absent the use of principles, and that self-interest cannot be consistently pursued absent a consistent adherence to certain ethical principles. Recently, Rand's position has also been defended by such writers as Tara Smith, Tibor Machan, Allan Gotthelf, David Kelley, Douglas Rasmussen, Nathaniel Branden, Harry Binswanger, Andrew Bernstein and Craig Biddle in his 2002 work, Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It.
Philosopher
David L. Norton identified himself an "ethical individualist," and, like Rand, saw a harmony between an individual's fidelity to his own self-actualization, or "personal destiny," and the achievement of society's well being.
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German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche suggested that egoistic or "life-affirming" behavior stimulates jealousy or "
ressentiment" in others, and that this is the psychological motive for the altruism in
Christianity. Sociologist
Helmut Schoeck similarly considered
envy the motive of collective efforts by society to reduce the disproportionate gains of successful individuals through moral or legal constraints, with altruism being primary among these.
The term
ethical egoism has been applied retroactively to philosophers such as
Bernard de Mandeville and to many other
materialists of his generation, although none of them declared themselves to be egoists. Note that materialism does not necessarily imply egoism, as indicated by
Karl Marx, and the many other
materialists who espoused forms of
collectivism.
It has been argued that ethical egoism lends itself to
individualist anarchism, as in the work of
Murray Rothbard, and is another way of describing the sense that the common good should be enjoyed by all. However, most notable anarchists in history have advocated
socialistic altruistic views.
